Monday, January 09, 2017

Florentine Inspired Print

It's been a bit gruelling in the shed with the heat, the coolest place is in the shade of the trees, so yesterday's much cooler weather was very welcome! At least I could sit at my table and do things!

I am in the middle of writing my Traveller's Blanket book for Editions de Saxe, but just needed to do something else, and as I am beginning to research my Italian book. I have this wonderful book from 1923 entitled Historic Textile Fabrics by Ralph Glazier, who sadly passed away before the book was published, which is a history of woven textiles and including some block print. There is a section on Lucchese and Florentine woven fabrics. So one of the textiles ( many of which as in the Victoria and Albert Museum ) has really caught my eye for many years so I decided to try and adapt it for a linocut. The first drawing is taking some of the elements from the image pictured in the book- but it needed changing , or in the words of Gianni Verni- "Grafico!"

Fine lines without adding some extra weight to the lines or positive space areas do not translate well to lino. The drawing in the top right is too squiggly and too light and not a good balance for the other heavier designs- so what to do? Pomegranates were a very popular motif in the 15th and 16th centuries- so I decided to add some pomegranates to the image which will sit nicely with one of the chapters I am planning. I thought i was drawing a square but it turns out the print measures 11.5 inches x 12.5 inches.It took quite awhile to cut out this print.

I could not wait to print it and must say I can see lots of embroidery possibilities for this print. I have printed it on four different colours and it is for sale for $23 inclusive of postage. I only have the four colours shown at present and the blue print is on indigo dyed hand woven khadi form the Stitching Project.

You can buy by clicking on the Paypal button- the different colours are listed. There is also still time to join the linocutting class which runs for 8 weeks - you work at your own pace.

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ABOUT ME

I am a Textile Artist and itinerant at the moment. My base at present is in Gellibrand though I teach around the world. I love to dye and print fabrics and assemble them into quilts with lots of stitching both by hand and machine. I also create my own linocuts for printing on fabric.